Pocopson boy runs 7 marathons for Operation Warm

Photo courtesy of Tara Toocheck
Nikolas Toocheck, 9, has made it his goal to run seven marathons in the seven continents to raise money for Operation Warm, a nonprofit organization that buys coats for children who can’t afford it. He named his campaign Running the World for Children.

Last March, Nikolas Toocheck was on his way home to Pocopson with his dad, Dan Toocheck, after both had run the Garden Spot Village Half Marathon in Lancaster County.

“We were talking, and I thought it would kind of be cool to run in different weather – like the desert and stuff,” said Nikolas. “So I was like why don’t we, run a marathon in all 7 continents.”

Nikolas is only 9 years old.

When Nikolas and Dan got home they verified that this was even feasible in all seven continents, and it is – there are two organized marathons in Antarctica. Nikolas’ first marathon is this Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Fortitude for First Descents Marathon in Delaware; his last will be in Antarctica in 2015. But it’s not just about running seven marathons.

“My goal is run a marathon on each of the seven continents, raising money for Operation Warm,” said Nikolas.

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Operation Warm is a nonprofit organization that buys new coats for children in need and was started by Nikolas’ grandfather, Richard Sanford. Nikolas named his campaign Running the World for Children, and to date he has raised $1,219 – of which $125 was Nikolas’ prize money for winning his age group in the Trail Creek Outfitters’ 2012 Trail Run Series.

“Once this became something that he really wanted to do, we created a website for him that Thea (his 12 year-old sister) primarily wrote,” said Tara Toocheck, Nikolas’s mom.

“I’m still amazed,” said Dan. “He’s been very consistent.”

Nikolas started running when he did a 5k with Dan at 5 years old, but for much of that race he was on his father’s shoulders. He ran his first race on his own when he was 6, but it was two years ago that his consistent training began.

“He sees a sign for this Turkey Trot in Downingtown and he’s like ‘I want to run,’” said Dan. And Dan replied to Nikolas “’If you want to run 5Ks, you need to train. You just can’t show up, the day of the race.’ So he’s like ok, ‘I’ll start training.’”

Dan was training for the Air Force Reserves, and Nikolas started running with him. Since then they have been running five days a week and biking on the other two. They average 30 miles a week, but three weeks ago they were up to 50 miles as part of their marathon training.

“He knows the first priority is stay healthy, stay safe,” said Tara. She said she worries sometimes, but Dan is very good about how he trains Nikolas. As for Nikolas, “he’s having a blast.”

During one of his runs, Nikolas’s favorite part was to see how many leaves he could catch – it was nine – and he loves to make up his own path.

In one of Dan and Nikolas’ regular routes “there’s this steep hill, so I run straight and then curve and then run up it and down so it’s like running sideways so it’s kind of cool,” said Nikolas.

“He does it just because it’s fun,” said Dan. “If you’re an adult, you just go down the path. You wouldn’t even think to go up and down the side of it.”

And even after an 11-mile run, Nikolas likes to ask his family, “now what?” “That’s my new motto,” he said.

In his shorter races, Nikolas looks at his times, sets goals and gets competitive, but for the marathon on Saturday, his goal is just to finish. And yet, it is still a controversial idea.

“You hate the 800-pound gorilla in the room; not everybody agrees with kids running marathons,” said Dan. “We’ve gone to pediatricians; we’ve gone to a pediatric cardiologist. We’ve done our diligence. We feel that he’s ready … If we didn’t think he was ready, we wouldn’t let him do it.”

In addition to his health, Nikolas’ parents want him to be happy.

“He knows that if it’s not fun anymore, he doesn’t have to do it. There’s no pressure from us,” said Tara.

“This is coming from him, and it’s his dream. But at the same time, he has a really strong sense of commitment that I think is unusual for a 9 year old.”

In addition to his first and last marathon, Nikolas’ second marathon is planned for May in Ireland and number three will be in Kenya or Mongolia. His fourth, fifth and sixth marathons haven’t been mapped out. Some marathons don’t allow anyone under 18 to compete, so finding race directors willing to include Nikolas will be a factor.

It takes about one million steps to complete seven marathons, so Running the World for Children has a motto – One boy, taking One million steps, raising One dollar for each step, to help children in need.

“You don’t have to be older to make a difference,” said Nikolas. “It’s just amazing that I’ve already raised over $1000 to help kids and that feels really good.”